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The company is in talks to merge its laptop business with Fujitsu, in a move away from consumer electronics which would mirror steps taken by Sony, Hitachi and Panasonic.

The change of direction follows an accounting scandal that has been unfolding since April. It emerged that Toshiba had inflated profits by £1.34billion since 2008 and had also failed to disclose £872million losses, including those made at its Westinghouse nuclear unit in the US.

Former chief executive Hisao Tanaka resigned over the failings amid a probe being launched by Japan’s Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission.

The latest announcement will cast further doubt over Toshiba’s plans to build more nuclear reactors in Britain.

This month the firm began looking for outside help to fund its £8billion programme to support the construction of an atomic plant near the Sellafield facility in Cumbria, after a collapse in its share price.

Toshiba is a 60 per cent shareholder in the project, called NuGen, which will build a plant with 3.4 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity.

Yesterday, shares in Toshiba closed at their lowest ebb in three years, down 9.8 per cent from the previous day at Y254.8 (141p).